The government has published its green paper outlining its proposals on internet safety to “make Britain the safest place in the world to be online”. (external link)
The government’s strategy aims to foster a co-ordinated, strategic approach to online safety across the country but specifically relating to education, it proposes that the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS):
- intends (subject to consultation) to make Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education compulsory in all schools from September 2019
- will ensure that new compulsory subjects address the challenges faced by young people who use the internet and that ‘online safety’ is a specific feature of content – again subject to consultation
- will expect ‘digital literacy’ and ‘digital citizenship’ to form part of compulsory relationships education relationships and sex education and/or compulsory PSHE
- will continue to ensure schools are well supported by signposting to relevant materials and providing clear guidance about their responsibilities in relation to cyberbullying
- will revise the statutory guidance, ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education’, to reinforce schools’ safeguarding duties and responsibilities regarding online safety, which the DfE is expected to consult on this autumn.